I’m been on treatment for years. No side effects. But check kidney and bone scan for osteoporosis, if you are lean and taking tenifver. (Wrong spelling) not all people get problems. Or change treatment to another drug. Thank God there is some treatment to stop liver deterioration.
It took me awhile to get used to the fact I need to take tablet for life but if it save my life, it’s not a hard thing to do. Get 6 monthly blood and ultrasound if you can, to monitor liver.
Stay positive-remember you are getting treatment-stopping virus from doing damage. I know it’s hard,
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Hi fellow HCBers!
I feel so lucky to find this great community. Thanks to everyone who share their experiences. I am really grateful for @ThomasTu and @Joan_Block with their generosity, kindness and knowledges!
I am an Asian American in my late 50’s. Discovered CHB 20 years ago when I was pregnant, suspect MTCT. Have been told my liver function is very good (ALT
always< 20, viral load mostly <2000 IU/mL) and no treatment is needed, until two months ago with a slight increase in ALT and fluctuated viral loads. Should I start Vemlidy now as my liver doctor suggested?
HBsAg: positive
HBsAb: negative
HBeAg: Negative
HBeAb: Positive
test date: 12/7/21
ALT: 25 , 26 (9/24/21), 18 (9/18/20)
AST: 29 (12/7/21), 29 (9/24/21), 26 (9/18/20)
HBV DNA viral count: 2060 (9/24/21),4790 (9/24/210 1310
[quote=“WeStrong, post:204, topic:119, full:true”]
Hi fellow HCBers!
I feel so lucky to find this great community. Thanks to everyone who share their experiences. I am really grateful for @ThomasTu and @Joan_Block with their generosity, kindness and knowledges!
I am an Asian American in my late 50’s. Discovered CHB 20 years ago when I was pregnant, suspect MTCT. Have been told my liver function is very good (ALT
always< 20, viral load mostly <2000 IU/mL) and no treatment is needed, until two months ago with a slight increase in ALT and fluctuated viral loads. Should I start Vemlidy now as my liver doctor suggested? I have severe osteoporosis and high cholesterol and I am taking medications (Boniva and Crestor) for these conditions for about a year now. Any inputs or suggestions will be greatly appreciated!
HBsAg: positive
HBsAb: negative 0.59 (9/24/21)
HBeAg: Negative
HBeAb: Positive
test date: 12/7/21 9/24/21, 9/18/20
ALT: 25 26 18
AST: 29, 29 26
HBV DNA viral count: 2060, 4790, 1310
AFP: 4.1 (5/10/2019)
Ultrasound:
Liver: Multiple hepatic cysts largest measuring up to 65 mm. There is a subcapsular 10 mm echogenic lesion (clip 3 frame 163), corresponding to a small hemangioma noted on 7/7/2021. No suspicious focal lesion.
IMPRESSION:
- Multiple hepatic cysts and a 10 mm hepatic hemangioma.
- No suspicious focal hepatic lesion.
FibroScan from 9/18/19: CAP was 215 dB/m and 2.9kPa
I am going to repeat FibroScan next Wednesday.
Thank you!
Dear @WeStrong,
Welcome to the community and thanks for sharing your experiences. I appreciate the kind words.
I think it’s worth weighing up the pros and cons of treatment for your own situation. For me, I’m of the opinion that it’s worth treating earlier rather than waiting for things to perhaps get worse. Also, since you’re taking daily pills already, I would think what is the harm of adding one more to the routine.
But each person will have their own considerations and it’s up to your conversations with your own health professional to come up with a strategy together. I think they need to clearly explain to you the risks and benefits, and for this I think it’s helpful taking notes.
Looking forward to hearing others give their opinions.
TT
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Thank you Thomas for your quick response and suggestions. Really appreciate it.
I have been wondering if covid vaccine shots have any effects on ALT and Viral counts. My rival counts was at 4790 in 9/2021 (4 months after my 2nd shot) and dropped to 2060 in early Dec. (7 months after 2nd shot). ALT values also followed the same trend. Does anyone have the same experiences?
Is being HBeAg (-) and HBeAb(+) make one more vulnerable to liver damage from Hep B virus?
I’ll report back after my next week’s Fibroscan.
Happy Holidays to all.
No problem, @westrong. I don’t think there has been much research into whether COVID19 vaccines affect liver function. The change from 4790 to 2060 is relatively small when you compare it to the >1000-fold changes with antiviral medications and they could be due to a few different things (including the time of day, your mental state, the lab that did the test, etc.).
Regarding your second question: HBeAg is not likely to make any difference in terms of vulnerability to liver damage. It is mostly used as a way to find out what phase of infection you are in and how much your immune system is targeting the virus.
Hope this helps,
Thomas
Hi, I am Steve. Nice to meet everyone virtually here. I am glad I find this forum. And thank you @ThomasTu for building this.
I have a question about when to start treatment, wondering if anyone has any comment or suggestion. I will check with doctor for sure, but just want to see others’ opinions.
So I found out I have HBV in high school. And now I am 35. My DNA has always been high, like 3E+8(3000,0000) and I have been doing blood test regularly before covid(2020), everything was good. Liver was good, ALT is good. So my doctor in US does not recommend any treatment. I recently did another blood test and liver check. DNA still high, still around 3E+8; But ALT is 71 this time. All other liver test(ultrasound, etc) show liver is good. I checked some doctor, he recommends starting treatment now(I don’t need to worry too much about the medicine cost).
My current plan: will do another ALT test after 3 weeks and see if ALT is still high, because I was working hard and did not sleep the day before the blood test.
I am mostly concerned about the side effects of antivirus drugs and the fact that you have to take it almost forever.
My question: given an high DNA, and assuming my next ALT test comes high still, what does your doctor tell you. Should I start the treatment now? Or should I wait a little bit??
Looks like somebody mentioned there is a recent trend in US that doctors may tend to start treating young patients earlier? Anyone knows why is that? Is it because the new drug has almost zero downside except for the money and effort to take it once a day. I am currently not in US now, so it is hard to find a US doctor to ask these question.
Thanks in advance for anyone’s comment.
Steve_chen
Welcome to the forum. I am happy to note that you have been doing very well lately.
I am not a medical personnel but I think it’s highly recommended that if your ALT is 2×UL you initiate treatment.
I have been on treatment for over 10 years and I have no side effects to report. Therefore this doesn’t need to worry you alot.
Hope you get the help you need here.
Always
Kinoti
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Welcome to the community, @steve_chen, and thanks for sharing your story.
As mentioned above, the decision to start treatment is different for each person. I myself don’t mind taking a pill every day and I find it easy. I don’t feel any side-effects even after years of taking it. But each person will need to make their own decision based on their context, feelings, and ability to make it work.
Regarding the decision to treat people earlier, there are still a lot of opinions about this and there are arguments to be made on both sides of the debate. As we do research and find out more about the virus, some studies are finding that cancer risk and liver disease might be happening earlier than we previously thought. This science is not settled yet, and also, we don’t quite know if treating earlier will definitely prevent some of the liver disease or not.
Given that in high-income countries it is easier to get the drugs, some people would rather err on the side of caution and take medications earlier.
Hope this helps a bit,
Thomas
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Hi @Kinoti @ThomasTu Got it. Thanks for the info. That makes a lot of sense.
Looks like there is no side effect, that is good.
Do you think(or know based on your knowledge) taking the antivirus will make the situation more complicated? I mean: assuming there is cure coming out by 2030, taking the current antivirus drug will prevent me from taking the “cure” drug, or making it a bit more complicate in anyway? Or is it the opposite? i.e. taking anti-vius drug should only be helpful, not harmful in anyway?
I totally understand that your comments here will not be a formal medical advice. And I will talk to my doctors after I go back to US.
Just hearing your experience helps me a lot!! Really appreciate it!
Thomas Tu. I am very grateful to the forum and to you specifically.
As usual, the answers given here are very useful (not taking as DRs substitute).
Can someone have normal ALT and AST and HBV DNA <20 IU/ML and still have liver damage ?
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Hi @steve_chen, great question. Many clinical trials are taking place in patients who are already on antivirals. I think it’s expected that any upcoming cure will probably be used in combination with antivirals, so you’re not likely to harm your chances (and will more likely improve them) for a shot at a cure in the future.
Also a great question. If you have high ALTs, it’s very likely that you have liver inflammation. But there have been studies showing that even with a normal ALT there can be inflammation happening in the liver: https://aasldpubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/cld.742.
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@ThomasTu Appreciate the info. I will probably start the treatment if the doctor recommend it given almost zero “medical” downside from autivirus.
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Hi, so I decided to take TAF since Apr 14. And now(May 14) my GPT dropped from 92 to 82; and DNA dropped form 2.5e8 to 9.0e4. Would you consider the treatment result good or bad, or normal? Thanks.
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Hi Steve,
I assume GPT was a type for ALT?
The reduction in HBV DNA over the first month is excellent. You are experiencing a good response.
Hi Steve,
ALT decline should continue and should eventually become normal given the speed of your HBV DNA decline.
Keep us posted!
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I am CNN seeking opinions or views.
Am 42 yrs old male. 8 months ago by chance I tested positive for Hepatitis B surface antigen S/CO B value of 4984.21 . I suspect it’s from child hood since I remember someone close who had symptoms similar to acute HBV but still not sure where I got it from. My family know and have been vaccinated. Below are the following additional results same time or 8 months ago:
-
Anti HBc IgG positive
-
Anti HBs 2.7 mIU/ml
-
Hep A negative
4.Hep C negative
-
HBV viral load 121 IU/ML
-
Anti HBc IgM negative
-
S/CO CM value 0.07
-
HBe antibody (anti HBe) positive
-
HBeAG Hep B e antigen negative
-
Hep C antibody HCV 3 at 0.05
-
HIV negative
-
Alanine Transaminase 25 U/L
-
Total bilirubin 16.4 umol/L high range being 20.5
Two days ago or 8 months later .the following are the results
-
Alanine Transaminase 29U/L
-
Viral load 390 from 120 8 months ago
-
No DTV from Doppler test
-
High AFP 6.6ng/ml with or using a ref range of 0 to 5.8
-
3.9 kpa on fibroscan meaning absent or mild fibrosis. No mass or nodules seen
-
CAP 270 dB/m grade 2 steatosis
Question for @ThomasTu and any anyone else in this good platform:
A. I Visited two top gastro specialists in Nairobi and one prescribed tenefovir and the other requested for review in three months. Why the difference? Something to worry me? Not sure who to listen to. One said treatment ensures I reduce to almost zero the possibility of progression then wait for drug advances in the next 5 or 10 yrs.
B. Should AFP worry me. What else should worry me? Or should I monitor closer
C. I have shortness of breath and painful legs always. Worse when I exert yet pressure is ok, no diabetes markers, ok reumatoid factor test
D. Any other or additional view based on my results above are welcome?
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